Today, Mikyzptlk and Shelby are discussing Superior Spider-Man 4, originally released February 20th, 2013.

Mikyzptlk: We are now four issues into Dan Slott’s Superior version of Spider-Man. The first three issues brought into question the ideas of identity, nature vs. nurture and just how creepy it is for Dr. Octopus to date Mary Jane Watson while wearing a Parker suit (Answer: VERY CREEPY). Fortunately, that last question has already been laid to rest allowing Slott to continue his examination of identity in issue 4. We also get a reintroduction to Spidey’s biggest villain of all time. That’s right, The Big Wheel! Ok. No. But, seriously, I’ll get to him in a minute.  

The issue begins with Spider-Man being, well superior. Using his Spider-bots, he’s taking out way more baddies than Peter Parker ever did and tying up loose ends like “Vulture’s under-aged minions.” Spider-Man cuts his patrol short, however. Peter is all “But hey! You’ve got Powers and Responsibility!” He shuts up pretty quickly though as he sees that Otto has gone to be with Aunt May during her physical therapy. That’s nice…or creepy. Not quite sure. Otto learns that May will never fully recover the use of her legs and sets out to rectify that with some ingenious inventing at Horizon Labs. It’s then that he realizes that Peter Parker never got a PhD! He storms out and immediately re-enroll’s at Empire State University to the chagrin of Peter Parker. After all, how could Otto have time to go back to school? Meanwhile, Ravencroft Asylum has suffered through yet another break-out. Massacre has escaped and he’s definitely living up to his name. Parker takes this personally as he previously saved Massacre’s life instead of killing him. Parker swears that he’ll hunt down Massacre and stop him while Otto swears the same thing and adds that he’ll take him down…permanently. Elsewhere, some more of Vulture’s left-overs (boy did he have a lot of henchmen) have succumbed to the thought that Spider-Man will eventually get them when suddenly Spidey’s greatest villain appears!

I’m happy to say that I’m still enjoying this book. Otto continues to impress in the role of Spider-Man. Reading him describe how much more effective a Spidey he is than Peter ever was is a HUGE BURN on the original Spider-Man, but Otto is making some pretty valid points that are hard to ignore. He’s apprehending more baddies, recovering more stolen goods, and gaining more respect from the criminal underground while doing it! Plus, while his Spider-bots may be a bit creepy, they are also kind of bad-ass. They also allow him to spend more time doing things that are important to him. Case in point, visiting “his” Aunt May while at the hospital. Peter always had the habit of letting Spider-Man dictate his life more so than anything else causing an incredible amount of personal damage. While Otto made sure to include May in his schedule, Peter didn’t even know that she was at therapy. Granted, he’s dead so you kinda have to cut him some slack, but this is starting to suggest to me that not only is Otto becoming a Superior Spider-Man, he may be becoming a Superior Parker as well. Now, there is a bit of an ick-factor here that involves May and Otto (as Peter) considering that Otto may only be visiting May because of their romantic past. While it was definitely unsettling when Otto was overtly going after M.J., it’s not as clear cut here. As far as what I could interpret, Otto treats May as someone he cares for platonically, though that doesn’t stop Peter from a well deserved (and quite humorous) freak-out.

Another thing I found interesting in this issue was that Peter once again begins exerting more control over Otto only to lose it all. We’ve been wondering if his control has been waning or growing and this issue shows us…both. As Peter discovers that Massacre has escaped and killed one of his friends at Ravencroft in the process, he seems hellbent on reclaiming his body in order to stop Massacre. Take a look at the following scene.

Peter is pissed and his control over Otto in this scene seems near complete. As Peter makes his heroic speech it’s almost like Otto hears it and takes Peter’s lead. Another take is that Peter actually begins to speak for himself! Taking a look at Peter’s “ghost” it looks like he’s closer than ever to re-possessing himself and while this is only my take on it, it looks like Otto reasserts himself and pushes Peter away when he proclaims his “man-ending” intentions. In the end, we are left with Peter continuing to be a sort of conscience for Otto, but it’s also a conscience that he can seemingly choose to ignore. In this issue, Otto ignores his “conscience” for a noble reason (May), but how long will it be before he decides to ignore it for reasons far more bloody (Massacre).

Giuseppe Camuncoli covers for Ryan Stegman in this issue and does a good job filling his shoes. The transition from one artist to the other isn’t stark which is a good thing in my book. Take a look at the first page of the issue. While his Spider-Man is a bit bulkier than I would like to see, you can’t deny it expresses just how powerful Otto is becoming as the ol Webhead.

Well Shelby, what did you make of all this? Is this premise continuing to intrigue you or is it wearing thin? Are you excited about the return of our not-so-friendly neighborhood Goblin?  Knowing how creeped out you were about Otto and M.J., I so hope you have more thoughts on “Peter” and May, but if not that’s alright. Honestly, the less thoughts I have about them together, the better.

P.S. Robot is growing on me more and more, I hope he sticks around for a good long while!

Shelby: I am excited to see Green Goblin make an appearance. Now, these four issues represent the sum total of my experience reading Spider-Man comics, but I understand that Green Goblin is to Spider-Man as the Joker is to Batman and Lex Luthor is to Superman. He’s his nemesis, pure and simple; they have that special relationship that only a hero and nemesis share. I look forward to GG’s encounter with Spidey because I want to see if he notices a change in his old friend. I’m also interested to learn more about Otto through his interactions with some of his former cohorts. Otto is a reformed bad guy, sort of; I love seeing how he reacts to the actions of his former, bad-guy buddies.

The exo-limb is intriguing. On the one hand, Otto is trying to do what’s best for his Aunt May; he does not accept the doctor’s prognosis that she’ll need a cane when he knows he can help her. On the other hand, it feels more like an ego-thing for him; it doesn’t make him look very good if he can’t even fix one old lady. And where have we seen exo-limbs with a neural implant go wrong before? Did we almost just see Aunt May transformed into a bionic supervillain? Because that would be awesome.

Mike, you mentioned that Otto is becoming both a Superior Spider-Man and a Superior Peter Parker. I’m going to say yes and no; to me, it’s a quality vs. quantity sort of thing. It’s true, as Spider-Man, Otto is more efficient, catching more criminals in less time. You know, however, his hubris is going to bite him in the ass. There’s going to be a point (probably in the eminent Green Goblin encounter) where Otto’s over-confidence in his intelligence and technology will bring him down. Plus, we saw him severely hurt/kill Vulture, and he plans to kill Massacre; clearly he’s more concerned with efficiency than quality. Same story with his life as Peter Parker. He’s spending more time with Aunt May, but he’s more worried about the efficiency of her PT and whether she’ll walk again without a cane than he is with, you know, actually spending time with her. Will Otto be able to learn that technical perfection is not always the best solution? Or will he just gradually turn Spider-Man into the next great villain?

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?